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After an Astros win…

Sights and sounds from the clubhouse Wednesday, postgame:

Manager Cecil Cooper:

“I thought we played station to station baseball…base hit, walk, base hit. Station to station. Sometimes that works.”

Jeff Fulchino, on entering the game with a big lead:

“You try not to treat it any differently from any other time out. You go out there like it’s a tight situation. Throw strikes, get ahead and hopefully the rest will somehow take care of itself.”

Brian Moehler, as expected, was not happy with his high walk total during this start versus the Padres. Moehler is a guy who stays around the strikezone, will give up the occasional solo homer and relies on his defense.

Asked if this was a tiring game, he said, “A more stress-filled game, yes. (But with a big lead), I didn’t feel like I had to be perfect. I just tried to limit the amount of damage.”

Moehler was then asked if competition between starting pitchers on the same team is healthy. The question was in reference to the fact that the Astros have six starters and will go back to five after the All-Star break.

“I think there’s competitiveness, yea,” he said. “In Florida (in ’05 and ’06), I was there with (Josh) Beckett, Dontrelle (Willis), A.J. Burnett. We fed off each other. It’s good to feed off each other.”

Asked about his at-bats, which included a ground ball that turned into a bases-clearing, three-run E5:

“I didn’t strike out,” Moehler said with a smile. “I’m making progress.”

__________________

A view of post-win high fives and handshakes, from my seat in the press box:

First up: Coop, who addresses the media from his office.

Moehler and Fulchino chat at their lockers soon after the game was over.

Fulchino talks to media.

Then reporters move over to Moehler.

Geoff Blum is a great postgame quote, which is why reporters usually seek him out, win or lose.

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